Seizing the day - Froggatt Edge under snow

Hard work pays you back in many ways. One is that a pint tastes so much better, and another is the wonderful views

I'd normally take these 9 miles in my stride, but snow and ice (not to mention being a bit out of shape) made the walk - not to put too fine a point on it - bloody hard work.

But on a day that has interesting skies and a blanket of snow, the high places call. I feel lucky that these amazing views along Froggatt Edge and Curbar Edge, with a lovely Derwent riverside walk are all about an hour from home.

My get-up-and-go has been on extended leave, and I am a confirmed fair-weather walker, but a day that has all this with a promise of rising temperatures and an imminent big melt is one that needs to be seized.

Many more photos are on Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shieladixon/sets/72157632615453431/

Details of the route are here:

http://uk-walks.info/froggatt_edge_short_walk.html

The pint tasted amazing!

Dovedale October 2012

Not my usual kind of walk, this is a very popular and beautiful path, well maintained by The National Trust with good facilities. It's very dog and family-friendly.

Money grows on trees here! There are a number of logs on the way which have had coins hammered into the splits by walkers. I've not seen this anywhere else - have you?

My suggested route - Milldale to Dovedale and back (or vice versa)  is about 6 miles with good parking at either end.

More details about the route are here

More photos fron today's walk are on Flickr here

Lathkill Dale 2012

Lathkill Dale is beautiful and I love doing this walk in the Spring, when there's lots of colour and the leaves are just out. Besides the dale itself, the walk takes in woodland, villages, open fields and lanes.

This is one of my favourite photos ever. People visit Lathkill Dale just for this waterfall (there are many other beautiful views!) I was unprepared and took this without a tripod or any special equipment, or much knowledge of slow exposure photos. From memory it was about 1/20 sec with the camera pressed against a rock.

More of my pictures of this walk taken in May 2012 here

I've published two versions of this walk, shorter (11.5m) and longer (17.5m) - find them both listed on my Derbyshire and Peak District walks and take your pick!

Combs Edge - little-known Peak District views

Walked: 5 May 2008(Mayday Bank Holiday)
Distance: 10 miles

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd arranged a day walking in the Peak District with friends. An Austrian friend has been staying here for a year - the year is nearly over and she was keen to see the best of our countryside.

Having settled on the bank holiday, I was keen to find somewhere not swarming with my fellow walkers, so I thought Combs Edge might fit the bill and it did!

It was difficult to draw a route that would suit experienced and less experienced walkers, but the 10-mile route seemed fine. We allowed plenty of time, and took plenty of stops.

The first part of the walk is along the Goyt Valley, a level walk alongside the reservoir, before climbing the opposite side of the valley, from where we had a fantastic view of the valley we'd just walked along, as well as the high spots that we had yet to climb. Notably the site of an old fort, which looked so high and so far in the distance.



We descended into Combs, which is a pretty village, before making the steep climb to the fort.

That was the half way point and made a great spot for lunch.

Most of the second half of the walk follows the contour of the edge. Despite being so high, it was very boggy and not such pleasant walking. The views did compensate though.







On the previous exploratory trip, we'd picked a route down from the edge which was a bit steep, and had to explore a bit to find a more gentle descent which met a footpath. It was still a bit tough and exercised muscles that don't normally get much use.


It's easy to pick up the Midshire's Way which takes you back to the car park by the reservoir.

This was the second time that I've arranged a walk for a group of friends. Despite being a very happy solitary walker, I thoroughly enjoyed the organising, the company and the walk itself. A very enjoyable benefit of going as a group was the couple of drinks and a pub meal we treated ourselves to at the end.

Distance: 12m
Walked: 13 April 2008

This was an exploratory trip to find a quiet corner of the Peak District to take some friends to on Bank Holiday Monday. I hope I've found it - the views are just wonderful, even on a dull day like this one, and it seems to be reasonably unknown.

We did 12 miles, but some of it was worth cutting out, leaving about 9 miles to walk on the day.

No detail for this one - I want it to myself on Monday!

Youlgreave

• Walked: 27 January 2008
• Distance: 17.5m
• Total time 8 hrs
• Terrain: some steep climbs. Total ascent: 200m (lowest point to highest point)
• Summary: Starting at Alport, along the Lathkill Dale, onto Limestone Way via Moneyash, Midshires way and on to Middleton, divert south East to pick up Limestone Way back to Youlgreave.

Every so often you get an unexpected overwhelming "it's all too beautiful" moment. That happened today. It was unexpected partly because we hadn't expected such great weather, and partly because I hadn't realised how high we'd be going. (I'll have to learn what those orange lines mean!)

The first half of this walk is down in dales and cycle routes. Even this was far more beautiful than I'd expected. From Alport, we used a track to get to Over Haddon, and then down into the Dale. The first part of the path alongside the water is marked with a brown line before changing to green later on. This means that it's not a public right of way, but some kind of concessionary path. It obviously has some history, because you first see this old sign which explains that it's free to use the path, except for the thursday of Easter week, when the toll is one penny!!


This is how beautiful this dale is, and so quiet!




I get frustrated that so many wonderful views don't look anything like as great through a viewfinder, I wonder whether sound and motion help? This is my first attempt at doing this; does it work?

This is where the water emerges from underground. It looks a little odd on the map that the water just starts apparently out of nowhere. Here's the answer: it emerges from a cave, which looks very much like something from early Lara Croft.


After emerging from the dale we found the cycle route via Moneyash and the wonderfully-named Huntmoor Butts (yes, really). The cycle path, an old railway, can be a bit flat and uninteresting in places, but has its moments:


I was surprised to see later (from the tracklogs profile, reproduced below) that this was the highest point of the walk. The climb up to the start of the cycle path was pretty gentle, and we didn't realise we were going so high.

After leaving the cycle route and finding Middleton via Green Lane, we decided that we had time and energy to take a detour that we'd kept in reserve. This took us south-west and it was on this part of the walk that the sun shone and we found the most amazing views.









Click the map below, and then each image attachment in turn to see all photographs from today's walk.



Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Map image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

Froggat Edge

• Walked: 11th August 2007
• Distance: 20m
• Terrain: various, with ascents to 417m
• Summary: Baslow, Curbadge and Froggat Edges, Derwent Valley, Eyam Moor.
• Time: 10.5 hrs start to finish

As soon as you set off from Baslow towards Froggatt Edge, you start a climb which seems to go on and on. The reward is the beautiful view which opens up around you:


As the route levels out, the land is covered with a blanket of heather, which was an intense pink today.


I think that this stone is called Eagle Stone. Close by is a monument to Wellington.


In front of us is Curbar Edge, which leads to Froggatt Edge. Once on top of the edge, it seems like a great moment to stop for refreshment and some spectacular photos.



After Froggat Edge, there's a lovely walk through some woods, before joining the River Derwent to follow the well-marked Derwent Valley Heritage Trail. The sharp reflections on the water show just how still the air was today. There are some stepping stones marked on the map just before we leave the river, possibly prettier than those at Dovedale, and certainly far less busy .



We'd intended to join Shatton Lane via Lees Farm, using the marked footpath from Westfield up to the radio mast. This was a very muddled part of today's walk. The paths between the river and Lees Farm are badly-marked (or not marked at all) and overgrown. The path goes right through the farmhouse garden, which is something I always find awkward. The planned path up to the mast isn't marked, and wasn't passable. After spending too much time trying that route, we gave up and took the road. It's known as Shatton Lane, and yes, unbelievably.... horses had been by and it had been.


A better route may have been to leave the river earlier and use the path which goes via Offerton Hall.

This was the toughest climb, probably due to the mid-afternoon heat, but once again a good climb pays dividends with some wonderful views. In the middle of this picture is Ladybower Reservoir, the starting point for last week's walk. The light green patch just below the water is the landscaped dam, and up above is Win Hill.


After descending and crossing a ford, a busy point where lots of paths meet, there's another climb back up to the 400m level for more views. I notice that the hills here are known as 'Lows', which seems a bit topsy-turvey, especially the one that's called 'High Low'.



It's a very steep descent down to Eyam, famous for isloating itself when the black death struck. This ensured that the surrounding villages were spared the disease. During the plague, provisions were left by neighbouring villagers at the town's boundary stone, thus avoiding personal contact. Payment was made by leaving coins in the holes in the stone.



The next village is Stoney Middleton, again very pretty. The church has this unusual octagonal shape. The church is dedicated to St Martin, the 'patron saint of cripples' (yes, really). Close by are some roman baths. According to the information board, the water was marketed as being cooler than that at Buxton, and could cure such diseases as rheumatism, and 'too great heat' which is something that I suffered from myself at times today.



It's easy to pick up the Derwent again, for a level walk to the finish. Looking back, you can now see the edges (on the horizon) walked at the start.





The route and stats above were generated using Meander. The profile was generated using Tracklogs.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

Win Some, Lose Some

• Walked: 4th August 2007
• Distance: 16m
• Terrain: good flagged paths, ascents to 517m
• Summary: Ladybower Reservoir start / finish. Derwent Valley Heritage Trail, Shatton, Hope, Castleton, the Limestone Way, Mam Tor, Hollins Cross, Lose Hill, Win Hill.
• Time: 8 hrs start to finish

I learned an important lesson today about perseverance. I happened to speak to a friend by phone when I was almost at the top of Lose Hill, and admitted that I didn't have the legs to make my last planned peak.

At the last minute I changed my mind and went for it. It was hard, but the elation that I'd felt last Saturday had been missing -up until the point where I'd nearly made it to the top of the apropriately-named Win Hill. You value something so much more when you've had to put doubts to one side and work hard for it.

I started the walk at Ladybower Reservoir. Severn Trent Water have put a free car park by the dam, with some of the best public toilets I've seen, which is important when you've just done a 2hr drive to get there and are facing an 8hr walk.

The dam is really quite impressive.


For the first couple of miles I followed the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail, which is fairly level, and reminds me of some of my local cycle routes and canal walks. When I noticed a village on the map called Shatton, I had to include it in the walk. Despite its name, it's a very pretty village. There's an Upper Shatton and Shatton Moor.



After Brough, there's a Roman fort. I love these, you can really feel the history around you and under your feet. I assume that the stony bit is the remains of the Roman wall, and that the rusty barbed wire is much more recent.


Hope has this very interesting church in a beautiful setting. I think Dive might confirm that's a broach spire.


After Castleton, came the quite spectacular Cave Dale. This was the first real cimb of the day, and in fact took me up to 400m which was most of the work done for the later peaks.


I picked up a little bit of the Limestone Way here, which to be honest, wasn't as spectacular as It had sounded, that is until Mam Tor came into view.


It was quite busy - there's a car park close by allowing people to just climb the last 60m up some stone steps. It has an unusual stone trig point:


After Mam Tor, the next couple of peaks come into view, with this anti-erosion flagged path which gives the impression of a giant backbone across the landscape. The pimple on the horizon is Win Hill, my planned final peak. It looked so far away!


I was delighted to spot Castleton down below. If you enlarge this picture, Peveril castle is in the middle, and just below it to the left is Cave Dale, which I'd used earlier.


Lose Hill doesn't have a trig point, but does have this little monument. It has compass points engraved on it, along with the names of all the peaks that you can see in the various directions. In the distance of this picture is Win Hill. I had decided by this point that I couldn't manage it, which was disappointing. From Mam Tor to Lose Hill, the peaks are in a line with not much of a dip and climb between them, but getting from Lose Hill to Win Hill meant descending to 170m before climbing back up to 460. I sat here with my map, fending off the sheep which were trying to eat my cake and my rucksack, and picked out a route which would get me back to my car directly and with no more ascents.


However, once down in the valley, I spotted a fingerpost pointing to Win Hill, and the path looked more gentle than I'd imagined earlier and so I couldn't resist going for it! There were about three hours of daylight left, and I had to take a chance that the car park didn't have a lock-up time. I felt that even if I got to the point where I had to rest every few steps, it would be worthwhile.

These are two of my favourite pictures of the day - this is a view back on Lose Hill after starting the climb to Win Hill. The heavy sky makes it look so dramatic.


And this is a great view of the earlier peaks - Mam Tor over to the left, Hollins Cross in the middle and Lose Hill on the right.


This is the point where I really started to feel good. Winhill Pike is just a few minutes away. Despite being alone, I laughed (possibly more from delirium than elation).


The 360 degree view from up here is spectacular. I could see everything I'd done today, plus lots more unexplored Peak District to the north. This snap of the trig point has my starting point, Ladybower Reservoir, down below.

The route and stats above were generated using Meander.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.